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Math Options celebrates lucky number 13

Math Options celebrates lucky number 13

A total of 248 seventh- and eighth-grade girls representing 41 schools in Erie, Crawford, Potter and Warren counties gathered at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on Tuesday, May 12, for the 13th annual Math Options Career Day, a program designed to spark the girls' interest in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Students from Roosevelt Middle School in Erie kicked off the day by participating in the annual School Challenge Contest-making a parachute for a precious ping-pong ball.

Students from Fairview Middle School test their parachute before turning in the final prototype; the object was to design the parachute with the slowest drop time. This year, Diehl Elementary School took first place -- plus $150 worth of math and science materials for their classroom -- with a time of 5.81 seconds.

Eighth graders from Union City Middle School participated in the Rockets workshop, presented by GE Transportation. GE was one of eight regional organizations to present 29 workshops for Penn State Behrend's Math Options 2009.

Students at Erie's Woodrow Wilson Middle School, drop halves of an Alka-Seltzer tablet into water while a classmate looks on. The three took part in the annual School Challenge Contest, three different workshops and a lunchtime activity fair during this year's Math Options Career Day.

Penn State alumna Amelia Segal presented "Math, Science and Television," a workshop about broadcast meteorology, and served as one of three keynote speakers for Math Options. Segal earned her bachelor's degree in meteorology from Penn State University, University Park campus and is currently a meteorologist for WJET-TV and Fox 66 in Erie.

Eighth-grade students from Roosevelt Middle School, make faux hydrocortisone ointment using Vaseline and all-purpose flour during the "Compounding 101" workshop, presented by the director of Experiential Education for the Wegmans School of Pharmacy at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.